High-earning parents would no longer lose state support under plans from Kemi Badenoch to scrap the £100,000 salary cap on funded childcare.
Under the Conservative proposal, any parent employed for at least 16 hours a week would qualify for 30 hours of free care weekly.
Party officials calculate the policy would cost £700m a year, funded through reductions in civil service headcount across arm’s-length public bodies. They suggest that shrinking organisations such as Arts Council England and the Environment Agency could generate £1.6bn in savings by the end of the decade, with NHS organisations excluded from the job cuts.
At present, parents of young children can claim 30 hours of funded care provided both earn under £100,000 annually. However, if a single parent’s income exceeds this threshold, the entire entitlement is withdrawn.
Unveiling the pledge ahead of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this weekend, Tory leader Mrs Badenoch described the rules as “absurd” and a disincentive to work more.
“Conservatives believe that you shouldn’t be punished for working more, but this childcare cliff edge does exactly that,” she said.
“I’m a mum of three and I’ve had to make the same choices many families have had to make on work and childcare. Those choices are difficult already; the government should not be making them harder.
“No one should be turning down a promotion or a pay rise because they literally cannot afford to earn more.
“It is often women who end up carrying more of the childcare responsibility so a system that makes it harder for them to progress in their careers is not helping families, it is not helping women and it is definitely not helping the economy.”
In response to the proposal, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “No government has ever put so much focus or investment into the early years as this Labour government.
“It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that the first of their own tax policies they want to unpick is one helping higher earners.
“They clearly don’t want to admit that they set the thresholds in the first place.
“Labour is already helping parents with 30 hours of government-funded childcare and expanding free primary school breakfast clubs, as part of our wider plan to give families more breathing space.
“Through our Childcare Review we will reform early years provision and further support working families.”
